Researcher

Name

Muthu Wijesundara

Manager

Name

Sharon Ngwenya

Technology Need

People with orthopedic disorders and muscular weakness need exoskeleton to help improve
their mobility and agility. The current market products are incredibly expensive, bulky in
size, and the snapping elastic bands are difficult to maintain. Moreover, these are also limited
to small size joints, variable strength requirements and complexity of control. Also, the soft
actuators aren’t able to deliver the high power demanded by various applications and have
non-linear actuation. A need for a frugal and dexterous substitute to the current state of the
art exoskeleton system is in high demand.

Invention Description/Solution

Researchers at UTA have developed a bubble actuated exoskeleton system for rehabilitation
of joints. This innovative approach allows both - continuous passive motion and active
resistive motion. The sensor actuated valves automatically manipulate the shape of dynamic
surface while interacting with user. The benefits of rigid and soft actuators are included
simultaneously. With this exoskeleton, the user can control the joints individually and
efficiently, with minimum muscular stress and maximum comfort.